Revenge is Sweet
by Gin110881
Summary: The story follows canon until May 1996, up to the point when someone decided to add a little twist by meddling with Ginny's love life. Of course, Ginny doesn't like that. Winner of Most Humourous and Most Unexpected in the Siye April Fool's Challenge (2017-02)


Author's Notes: I never thought I'd ever write my own story, let alone in English, but here it is. My special thanks go to GHL and Epeefencer for their kind help to make the story better readable. Thank you so much, your help was much appreciated. Please blame all the remaining errors on my persistent desire to make a few last minute changes. And here we go, enjoy.

*** Ginny & Harry ***

 **It happened one Sunday evening, in May 1996.**

"Slimy git", muttered a highly agitated Ginny Weasley when she entered the Gryffindor common room. She was practically seething as she crossed the room to find her usual spot at a table by the window with the wonderful view about the Black Lake. On the long way from dinner in the Great Hall up to the Gryffindor Tower her mood had grown worse and worse.

For a Sunday evening, the common room was only moderately occupied. Her friend, Hermione, was sitting on the sofa near the fire place, giving her a worried look.

"Ginny, what's going on?" she asked concernedly, "What's bothering you?"

Ginny had told her friend the night before that she'd broken-up with her boyfriend Michael Corner after a heated discussion.

"Merlin, why do boys always have to be such idiots? It's not been twenty-four hours since I've ditched him, and he's already hanging around in every secluded corner with bloody Cho Chang. He made a real show of it as soon as he saw me. "

"Ginny, calm down," said Hermione. "Be glad that you got rid of him. You deserve someone better."

"Oh, but that's not news!" interjected her nearby sitting brother, Fred.

"No, your dear friend Michael has been very close with this Chang bird." added his twin, George.

"For a couple of weeks now." Fred nodded in agreement.

"We thought this was the reason you broke-up with that Corner bloke."

"No," retorted Ginny, "the idiot didn't like that we won against Ravenclaw, and that bloody Cho Chang cried after the game. Git," she cursed.

"Anyway," George noted, "maybe next time you should make a better choice."

"Someone trustworthy…", added Fred.

"Someone honest..."

"Someone who likes to play Quidditch..."

"We would volunteer to advise you…"

"Dear little sister…" The boys grinned impishly.

"Oh, let it be" Ginny countered. "In the end, the boys aren't worth all the trouble. At the moment, I think I just want to be left alone. Anyway, don't bother me." She growled, "Just mind your own business, if you know what is good for you."

"Oh, and you can relay this message to your dear brother, too." She added with a glare at her brothers. "Ron also needs to be reminded of what exactly his business is every once a while. He's been spying on me for weeks."

In the attempt to relax and calm down, she went over to the fire place and fell into the armchair next to Hermione.

She let her gaze wander over the room. "Hermione, where is Ha…" she hesitated for a moment, "Where are the boys?"

"Ron is in his dorm playing chess with Dean" Hermione explained, "and Harry is in detention with Umbridge."

"Detention? On a Sunday evening?" Ginny enquired.

"Seems Malfoy trapped him. He and his goons maltreated a Hufflepuff first year, and when Harry tried to intervene, they dragged him to Umbridge and accused him of causing trouble."

"Not again," Ginny groaned "He's always so moody when he's back from that toad. We should do something to the idiots calling themselves Inquisitorial Squad."

"I'm afraid, that's not possible. Umbridge is under the personal protection of the Minister of Magic. Even the professors are powerless against her."

"Argh!" Ginny stood up and growled "I've had enough trouble for today, I'm going to bed." With that she was on her way to the stairs up to her dorm.

Hermione, with a thoughtful gaze, considered following her to try to distract and calm her down a bit. Eventually, however, she decided otherwise, sighed and simply leaned back in her couch, comfortable with the idea to let the evening fade away with a couple of hours of light reading about the history of the house elves in Belgium.

*** Ginny & Harry ***

 **Monday Evening**

The next evening after dinner Ginny was sitting at her usual place at the window in the common room. Trying to complete her Charms essay, she let her gaze drift over the Black Lake.

Down by the shore she had sat a few days ago, with Harry by her side. She'd had a free period, which she usually spent with Michael, who had apologized. His study group had to work on an important project in the library, as so often happened lately.

With hindsight, she wondered if he just had spent some time with Cho Chang in the library. She realized, however, that she'd not missed Michael that day. She had a very nice talk with Harry, as so often in recent weeks. They discussed the upcoming Quidditch match against Ravenclaw, which Harry wasn't allowed to attend because of the Quidditch ban imposed by Umbridge. They were talking about the injustices the Inquisitorial Squad was allowed to commit on Hogwarts students in the name of Umbridge and the Ministry, and that Harry was angry at Dumbledore because he hadn't been talking to him for months. Ginny thought that it would be nice if they both had more time to talk, now that Michael was history.

Since the last Christmas at Grimmauld Place, the two of them had become really good friends. After they talked about Tom Riddle and how it felt to be possessed, it seemed easy to talk about all of the minor things in life. They often talked about all sorts of things, their favourite Quidditch teams, joked about Hermione's bossiness, and Ginny's relationship to her brothers. However, over the last couple of weeks Ginny often noticed a strange look on Harry's face, mostly when he thought he was unobserved.

 _Hmm, why must boys always be so strange?_

She liked to have fun with Harry. They shared funny tales about incidents in McGonagall's Transfiguration class, sarcastic remarks about Snape, Filch and Malfoy. Although Harry didn't like to talk about Malfoy, he obviously detested the Slytherin from the bottom of his heart. It was another thing they had in common.

One thing, however, disheartened her. Although she often had the impression that Harry would like to talk to her about it, he avoided talking about personal matters. Real personal matters. Secretly, she hoped that one day he would open up a little more.

 _Hmm, why boys must always be so hard to read? Harry in particular._

Okay, there were some boys who were very easy to read. But she had no interest in them. She had to smile benignly about the sudden impression that lately, she could read Harry better. Except, of course, this strange look she had seen so often on his face over the last few weeks.

She startled out of her thoughts when someone entered the common room through the portrait hole, laughing. Trying to concentrate on her essay she noticed that she'd forgotten her quill.

She quickly scurried to her dorm to retrieve the missing writing utensil. When she came back to her place, she paused confused, wondering about a piece of parchment sitting on the table. She was quite sure that it wasn't previously there. Hesitantly she took it and read:

 _Ginny,_

 _I need to talk to you. Can you please come to the old Transfiguration classroom on the seventh floor?_

 _I need your help._

 _Harry_

'Harry?' Ginny thought. Wondering what might be so urgent and private that Harry asked her to meet in an empty classroom, she put the parchment into her pocket and turned to the portrait hole muttering "Okay Harry, let's see what's bothering you."

On her way to the portrait hole, she was interrupted…

"Ginny!"

She turned around to notice Dean Thomas hurrying over to her.

"Ginny, do you have a moment, I have to talk to you. It's urgent."

Amazed that suddenly so many boys wanted to talk to her, but also worried about what Harry wanted from her, she answered, "Oh, Dean, sorry, I'm in a hurry. Can we talk later?"

"Well…sure Ginny, of course. I'll see you later." Dean tried to smile, but couldn't hide a touch of disappointment in his gaze.

"Thanks Dean. See you later!" Ginny smiled back at Dean. She turned and hurried through the portrait hole to find the classroom Harry mentioned in his note.

*** Ginny & Harry ***

When she entered the classroom, Harry was already there, waiting for her. In the dim light of the room he sat on the teacher's desk with dangling legs, smiling at her when she entered the room. With a short movement of his wand he illuminated the room.

He looked at her questioningly and said, "Hi, Ginny. What's up? What do you want to confess to me?" giving her a teasing smile.

"Confess? What do you mean? You asked me to come here." They stared at each other in confusion. Harry slowly reached in his pocket and took out a piece of parchment, handed it to Ginny, and asked "Oh, uh .., and what does this mean?"

Ginny skimmed through the note.

 _Harry,_

 _Please come to the old Transfiguration classroom on the seventh floor, I have something to confess to you._

 _Ginny_

Ginny looked dumbstruck, thinking about the weird situation. "Oh, Harry, that's odd. Somehow it seems that someone is making fun of us."

Frowning, she handed Harry the piece of parchment that she had found in the common room, "See for yourself"

Harry took the parchment and throw a glanced at it.

"But why?" he asked. "Why would someone want us to meet in an abandoned classroom? What's the joke?"

Ginny's eyes lit up, hearing the word joke made her recognize the situation. "The Twins! Ooh, I'll get them for this! Just you wait!"

"What's about the Twins?" Harry asked curiously.

"Yesterday evening," Ginny explained, "they proudly announced that they want to set me up with someone! I told them to mind their own business, but obviously they couldn't resist", she said with an evil grin.

"How...? What...? Set you up? Sorry, I don't understand. I thought you were with Michael?"

"Oh, Harry. As clueless as ever. I broke-up with Michael, I ditched him. It's over. Thank Merlin."

"Oh!" was all Harry could say. "What happened?" he added after a moment.

"Oh, it wasn't going so well for a while now. The git told me again and again that Quidditch isn't a sport for girls. The icing on the cake was when we won against Ravenclaw. He couldn't stand it. Funnily enough, he's already snogging the next Quidditch player. Spineless idiot!" Ginny grumbled.

"Oh...How...Who's he snogging now?" he asked with an indifferent look.

"Oh Potter, really. Where have you been hiding? Who do you think our pretty Cho Chang is sweet on at the moment? I bet she and her beloved Michael are just trying to fit in every empty broom cupboard of Hogwarts! Oh sorry, Harry." She stopped abruptly. After a moment of silence she added, "Harry, doesn't it hurt you? I mean what Cho is doing to you?"

"Cho? Why?" he hesitated bewildered. "No, it's over between Cho and me, for a couple of weeks now. To tell the truth, I think that there wasn't ever really anything. I don't know. In the end it was always only awkward."

'It's strange,' Ginny thought to herself, 'we've been talking about almost everything in the world since last Christmas, but Cho and Michael have never been a subject. Probably Harry avoided the subject of Michael just as much as I'd avoided the subject of Cho. '

"So, and what do we do now?" asked Ginny interrupting the silence.

"Uh... what do you mean, Ginny?"

"We can't let Fred and George get away with this so easily. If they're going to interfere in our relationship, they must live with the consequences. "

"What do you mean with..., uh…our relationship?" Harry looked confused.

"Our friendship, Harry. We are old enough to talk to each other if and when we want, and not when these gits want it. And now we're talking about revenge, Harry." She grinned with sparkling eyes.

"Uh, Okay." Harry laughed." This will sure be fun." With a cautious look, he added, "But we must be careful, and make sure we don't arouse suspicion."

"That's right. We ought to set-up someone as the obvious suspect. Hmm, what do you think? Maybe, Hermione?" Ginny asked. The doubt in her face already betrayed that she thought that it wasn't a good idea.

"Bad idea. Hermione never makes jokes, or pulls pranks," pondered Harry.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Okay, then it's Ron?" grinned Ginny.

"Ron? Fine. It will be fun to watch the Twins taking revenge."

Ginny laughed out loud at Harry's remark.

"Okay, now to the hard part. What kind of prank do you think of?" Harry asked with curiosity.

"Oh, let me take care of this. I have a wonderful idea," said Ginny grinning devilishly. "Let's head back to the common room. Before we talk about my idea, I need to finish my Charms essay."

Harry hopped from the teacher's desk and followed Ginny out of the room.

*** Ginny & Harry ***

As they entered the common room, a nervous Dean stepped in their way "Hey Ginny, do you have a moment now?" Apparently, he had waited for Ginny's return.

"Oh, of course Dean. What is it?"

Harry looked at her, raised the eyebrows, but headed towards the corner Hermione was sitting when she nodded.

"Hmm, uh ..., Ginny ... is it true that you ditched Michael Corner?"

"Yes. Why?"

"You know Ginny, it's so ..., of course only if you want, I ... uh, uh ... I'd like to know if you… if you would like to go out with me, that is, if you don't mind. If you would like to, we could go together into Hogsmeade in two weeks, as an official date...that is, if you want."

"Oh, Dean. That's really nice of you." Ginny said, quite surprised by the sudden question.

Her gaze lingered over the common room and met Harry's. Again he gave her that strange look she'd noticed several times over the last weeks. Ginny wondered why his expression suddenly changed into a look of panic. 'What's the matter with him?' She thought.

"Ginny? " She startled out of her thoughts.

"Yes, Dean? That is, wait… No! That is, you know, it's just two days since I broke-up with Michael. Would you mind giving me a day or two to sort out my thoughts? I'd like to have some time for myself before I start something new. You know, just to think things through. Would that be okay for you? I mean, I really like you and will honestly consider it ...but I'm... I just think it wouldn't be fair to you if I say yes now, and then maybe…" She looked over at Harry again, who apparently was quite unhappy at the moment.

"Oh, of course Ginny. Of course I can wait the two or three days for your affirmative answer." Dean grinned cheekily.

"Oh, you seem to feel quite confident, don't you" Ginny laughed.

"Of course," Dean grinned. "And I'm looking forward to going out with you. See you later." Dean turned around and went back to the table where Seamus was already waiting for him, giving him high fives.

'Gits!' thought Ginny shaking her head, 'they probably made a wager on whether Dean dared to ask me out. Maybe I should avoid boys for a while.'

*** Ginny & Harry ***

 **Tuesday Evening**

After dinner that night, Ginny sat with some of her classmates at a large round table in the common room. They were discussing their Charms project, the theory behind the creation of enchanted communication mirrors, when Colin Creevey diverted the discussion to the benefits of Muggle television. Ginny had just interrupted the enthusiastic description of a television show she'd never heard of with the remark, "Really Colin, I think it's silly to listen to people who can't see me and who even don't know me. I'd rather talk to real people," when Harry descended the stairs from his room.

Ginny looked up when Harry nodded to her, and let something inconspicuously slip inside her bag.

They had used the lunch break to plan how they wanted to play their prank. However, before the prank could be executed they needed to avert the suspicion to someone else, her brother Ron. She had to grin when she imagined how an innocent Ron would react when her brothers accused him. She had to snigger about the mental connection between innocent and Ron.

No, she didn't have a guilty conscience. From time to time Ron needed a damper. This had the advantage that he wouldn't interfere in Ginny's affairs for a while, what he had done way too often lately, much to Ginny's annoyance.

"I'm off," Ginny said when she stood up, grabbing her bag. "Let me know when you're discussing the mirrors again." With that she headed towards the staircase up to her dorm.

As she came back a couple of minutes later, without her bag, she gave Harry a small smile and a nod.

"Hey Ron, are you up to a game of chess?" Harry called out.

Ron looked up in amazement. It had been a while since Harry had voluntarily challenged him to a game of chess. Then he grinned "With pleasure, you're ready for another defeat?"

"Oh, let's wait and see, Ron, let's wait and see." Harry grinned.

Ron headed to his dorm to retrieve his chess set. He returned instantly and began to set up the chess pieces when he stopped astonished.

"Damn," he muttered "Where is the bloody King?"

He shook his head and reached for the bag the chess pieces were usually kept in. He looked in it, turned it, and shook it. Nothing.

Scratching his head, Ron bent down to look under the table. The missing piece was nowhere to be seen.

With a thoughtful gaze Ron called out "Accio Chess Piece. "

Harry paled slightly, but relaxed when nothing happened. "Accio White King", Ron tried again. Again nothing happened.

With a scowl Ron muttered "Damn, where's the bloody White King?"

"What's the matter, Ron, are you giving up? Do I win by default?" Harry teased him.

"In your dreams, Potter!" he growled and headed over to the table the Twins were sitting at with Lee Jordan, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet.

"Hey Fred, I somehow lost one of my chess pieces. Would you lend me your set?"

"Of course, dear brother of mine. But you have to get it by yourself. It's in the box on top of my trunk up in my dorm." Fred replied without looking up.

Ron turned around and headed towards the staircase when George yelled "But don't touch anything", and added a little quieter "if you know what is good for you."

When Ron hurried to the Twins dorm to pick up their chess set, Harry took a deep breath and sat down next to Ginny, whispering "Merlin, I'd thought it was all in vain when he tried to summon the bloody king. Where did you hide it?"

Ginny sniggered, "Wouldn't you like to know."

It took Harry a few seconds before he blushed. "No, you didn't!" When Ginny answer was an even louder snigger, he ruffled his hair, "Well, it's always good to work with a professional prankster, isn't it?"

"You better never forget it, Harry" she grinned. To change the topic, she added "But don't sell yourself short. You've done a good job and nicked the right vial."

"Ha," Harry remembered "It wasn't easy, I can tell you. There were dozens of vials with funny scribbles on it in Fred's trunk. I left quite a mess." He stretched and folded his arms behind his head, quite satisfied with himself.

At Ron's return, Harry stood up to help him with his second try to set up the chess pieces, hoping that Ron would excuse him after two or three defeats.

Giving the common room a searching glance, Ginny made her way to the table the Twins had just occupied. In the absence of their friends, who had obviously just left the room, the two of them were talking quietly, but with lively gestures. The debate stopped abruptly when Ginny reached the table.

"Hey Fred, George." Ginny greeted her brothers, smiling innocently.

"Oh, hello dear sister. What's the reason for the rare honour of your visit at our humble table?" They bowed their heads, grinning.

Ginny laughed, "Why, do I need a reason to talk to my favourite brothers?"

"Yes." They replied unison.

"Usually you have one." George gave her a challenging smile.

"Okay." Ginny admitted in defeat. "I was wondering if you two could help me with a Potions project." She gave her most innocent smile.

With a generous gesture, George pointed to a free chair "Ah, little sister, that's easy. Sit down and spill the beans!"

The evening passed with three defeats for Harry in a row. The third defeat Harry could delay somewhat because Ginny helped him, after the Twins had left the common room through the portrait hole on 'urgent business', as Fred had hinted. The common room was almost empty when Harry capitulated.

With a triumphant smile Ron gathered the chess set together to bring it back to the Twins' dorm. When he was alone with Ginny, Harry stood-up and stretched, "Okay then. Let's just hope it works."

Ginny smiled, "Oh Harry, trust me, it'll all turn out okay."

Suppressing a yawn, he apologized, "I'm going to find a school owl to send a letter to Snuffles."

"Oh, that's nice. Say hi to him for me." Said Ginny. "But don't get caught, it's almost curfew."

"Don't worry, I'll hurry." Harry smiled and headed towards the portrait hole.

*** Ginny & Harry ***

 **Wednesday Evening**

Ginny and Harry sat at Ginny's favourite table in the Gryffindor common room, the planning of their prank already finished. It was already close to curfew, the room almost empty.

In the past half hour they had skimmed through a couple of Quidditch Magazines, occasionally discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the several broom models. Harry had surprised her with the remark that one day he'd like to develop Racing and Quidditch brooms. To be honest, she liked this idea much better than his former desire to become an Auror.

"Ginny," Harry said thoughtfully.

"Yeah?"

"You know, I think we should find a way to give the chess piece back to Ron. It wouldn't be fair to keep it."

"Yeah, I know." Ginny smiled "I've already taken care of it."

Harry raised his brows "How?"

"You'll see soon enough" Ginny sniggered.

When Harry knitted his brows, she quickly added "Believe me, it'll be fun."

Changing the subject she lowered her voice "Okay, back to tomorrow morning. Let's summarize. You need to lend me your invisible cloak, so I can go a little earlier to the Great Hall to prepare Fred's and George's seats. You just watch out that they won't show up too early, and run into me."

"Yes, Ginny."

"We'll meet in front of the entrance to the Great Hall to make sure Fred and George are there before us."

"Yes, Ginny."

"Harry, and don't forget to make sure that Ron is already at breakfast when the Twins show up." She gave him a playful glance "Just make something up. You're a big boy."

Harry rolled his eyes "Yes, Ginny."

"Harry, don't laugh." Ginny scowled. "This is important. If the Twins find out that we've been kidding them, we're in trouble."

"Yes, Ginny." Harry snorted. "Do you know how many times you've already told me all this?"

Ginny looked at him with wide eyes. "Harry, you're a boy. You know, I'd rather tell you once too often."

"You're terrible!" Harry poked his finger in her side, and made her squeal.

"I know." She grinned.

"Okay, let's meet tomorrow morning in the common room half an hour before breakfast, say half past seven." When Ginny nodded, Harry added, "I'll bring the invisibility cloak for you."

He stretched and yawned, "I'm off to bed. See you in the morning."

Ginny, glowing with anticipation, gave him a rather pleased glance as he walked away, and went to bed, too.

Tomorrow, she would have a lot of fun.

*** Ginny & Harry ***

 **Thursday Morning**

The next morning, Harry was waiting impatiently for Ginny near the entrance to the Great Hall. He'd already met her earlier in the common room to give her the invisibility cloak.

When Ron ran down the stairs, two steps at a time, he took a step back. Noticing that Ron had seen him, Harry shouted "Ron, go ahead, I have to go to the loo."

He frightened slightly when Ginny materialized next to him. "Merlin's daughter, you scared me!"

"Oh Harry, you know, you can call me just Ginny." she teased him mischievously.

Rolling his eyes, Harry asked "Did everything go all right?" Nodding towards her bag, he added, "And please put the cloak into your bag, Ginny."

"Yeah, everything is fine." She answered his question, "Only Fred and George are still missing. As I see, you got Ron out of bed on time."

"Actually, it was quite easy." Harry chuckled. "When I came back from the common room, I made enough noise, and when Ron complained, I said, hey Ron, it's Thursday, and there are chocolate muffins for breakfast. He even skipped the shower."

Harry laughed, while Ginny grimaced "Yuck!"

"I think the Twins are on their way. Let's get out of here until they're in the Great Hall."

As soon as Fred and George had entered the hall, Harry followed with Ginny trailing a few yards behind him.

"Hey Harry, polite people say good morning when they meet a friend." Ginny made a show.

Harry turned, "Oh, sorry Ginny. I didn't see you. Good Morning to you, too."

They took the two vacant seats opposite to Ron. Since Ron had already polished the bowl of chocolate muffins, they filled their plates with smoked salmon, buttered their toasts, and started eating just when Hermione reached her usual seat next to Ron.

"Morning" muttered Hermione, pulled a chess piece, a White King, out of her bag and sat it on the table right in front of Ron.

"Do you recognize that?" she gave Ron a questioning look.

"S'mine, Mm'ione" Ron choked out, the last muffin in his mouth.

"What did you say?" Hermione gave him a disgusted look.

"Oh, thank you so much, Hermione. Where did you find it?" Ron answered in a second attempt, after swallowing down the rest of the muffins, emphasizing every word.

"Oh, where do you think you lost it?"

"No idea, really!"

"I've found it in my trunk, just between my knickers" she starred at Ron, and continued "I'm still wondering if the White King is the pervert, or its owner. What do you think, Ronald?"

Ron, however, red-faced and tong-tied, didn't answer.

"I insist on an explanation."

Ron became deep red and stuttered with a side view on the howling Twins "I…I have no idea…Hermione. Really!"

"Ronald, this isn't over!" Hermione scolded, taking her seat next to him.

"I want to know how you managed to get into the girls' dorms. According to 'Hogwarts, A History', it's not possible for boys to enter the girls' dorms without triggering an alarm." Hermione sent him a final glare, and filled her plate.

The breakfast at the Gryffindor table continued in splendid mood, except for Ron, who was hardly able to cope with all the teasing.

Harry gave Ginny an admiring look, whispering "You're so bad!", but couldn't help but snigger.

Ginny murmured in response "That's the best blackmail material ever. The next time Ron tries to tell me who I can date, or not, I can easily refer to strange chess pieces wandering all over the Gryffindor Tower."

Shaking his head Harry took another bite from his smoked salmon.

Fifteen minutes later, when Fred and George got up from the breakfast table, another roaring laughter burst out at the Gryffindor table, the tables nearby joined only moments later. Ron couldn't hold the eggs and bacon he had as dessert, when he started laughed out loud.

Ginny noticed McGonagall narrowing her eyes, and looking for the cause of the turmoil. With open mouth, the Head of House stared at the bare-naked backsides of Fred and George Weasley. Apparently someone had made the effort to turn the backsides of their robes transparent.

Just as she tried to restore the order, the Twins turned and George noticed Fred's bared posterior, and called out. "Oh, my dear look-alike. I… Methinks someone here is begging for punishment!"

Pointing at Ron, Fred yelled "Oh, dear brother of mine, methinks the miscreant is sitting right in front of us." Reaching for his wand, he added with an accusing glare, "On the pretence that he has lost a chess piece, he rummaged through our Wheezes stock and stole our vanishing solution."

With wide eyes, Ron jumped up as he recognized that his brothers were approaching him. "What? I've done nothing!"

Ginny giggled when she looked at Harry who was watching with amazement as he noticed how a very quiet Hermione kept levitating a piece of parchment towards Ginny's bag. It was the very moment she realized that they'd pranked the wrong person. She reached for her bag with one hand, for Harry's arm with the other, muttering "Harry, come! Now!" and dragged him out of the Great Hall.

She hurried through the corridors with Harry on her tail, looking for a deserted classroom. As soon as they entered the room, they looked at each other and started laughing loudly.

Ginny reached into her bag and pulled out the piece of parchment, holding it so that Harry could read it, too.

 _Ginny,_

 _I need to see you. Meet me at 9 p.m. tonight at the Astronomy Tower._

 _Harry_

"Merlin, Hermione! It was Hermione! The ever so prim and proper Hermione." Ginny got the giggles.

Still laughing, she looked at Harry. The two of them laughed for several moments when Ginny suddenly stopped, and instead noticed the strange look on Harry's face. The very same look she'd noticed again and again over the last weeks.

Her heart suddenly pounded louder and faster...

"Harry? What is it…? "

Harry made a step towards her "Gin…"

"Yeah…? "

"Gin…" Harry froze.

"Yes, Harry?"

"Have I ever told you how much I love to see you laugh…?"

Ginny noticed a single tear in Harry's eyes when he took another step closer.

"Harry?"

Taking two steps to close the distance, Ginny looked in Harry's eyes. When she felt that Harry was looking for approval she closed her eyes and leaned in.

When she felt Harry's arms around her, and his lips on hers, the world around her slowly ceased to exist.

*** The End ***

Sorry, Ron the poor sod got more than I've ever planned. Please let me know if it was at least a wee surprise that Hermione was the culprit, or if it was obvious.

I can very well imagine Harry's revealing the truth about this incident at his wedding, as part of his toast, under the heading Our First Kiss.


End file.
